Freebie Friday-Fall Leaf Cutouts

First, a little reminder that today is the last day to enter my first ever giveaway. Tomorrow I will announce the winner!

Okay, so I needed some new bunting. This is what I settled on, I liked it enough I thought you might too. I will warn you it's a little bit of a DIY. It may take an hour or two to cut them out if you do a lot. It's worth it! oh, I've also seriously considered sewing a dark brown ribbon along the backs of all of them instead of using clothes pins to hang. Maybe I still will.

You could do lots of other things with these too: They could work as cards, artwork in a frame, or I suppose even for just coloring. I used plain colored card stock, but child's art work would be an awesome background! Or patterned paper. I would just recommend you use highly contrasting papers for the front and back.

okay a couple notes on the pdf (usually these things aren't issues-and I'm sure most of you don't need all the nitty gitty details of how to do it):

The out line- I don't like how a little bit of it may show up in your cut out if your not really careful. I solved that by laying a brown piece of paper (the one I planned to use) under my white "template." I still tried to cut on the outside of the line in case I end up using the template for something else. But, I realize that is more work. If you don't want to use a template, by all means, it's not necessary.

my printer, and most likely yours too will have a little margin around the edge it won't print on. Cut all the way to the edge anyway!

If you don't cut them in fourth first, DON'T connect the two open ends of the leaf. Just start where the line starts and follow it around. to the other end. When you cut them in fourths (with a ruler or paper cutter) It will automatically cut the rest of the leaf out.

Okay, this was my biggest problem: in illustrator (the program I designed them in) the are each 4.25 x 5.5 inches exactly. But for some reason when I print them out, they don't line up right. the maple leaf and two leaves don't go quite to the center, and the oak goes a little over. I haven't resolved it entirely. But I did fix the oak leaf so it doesn't go over. So don't follow the pattern here! Just cut the 11 inch side to 5.5 and the 8.5 inch side to 4.25. ignore the outlines on this one!

I cut a plain piece of white to go behind these. You could glue them, or not. I didn't. I liked the shadow it created. Using 3D squares between the 2 layers would do this nicely. If you're doing a card, you may want to cut them down a half inch on two of the sides to create a little border before gluing it to your card. . .

The one on the left is my template. The one on the right bottom is the only one I used. I will, of course keep the others for future uses though. . .  The actual leaves might be fun as place cards for Thanksgiving. We'll see.

Then I decided I kind of liked it in my living room . . . sorry about the terrible lighting. It doesn't ever get good lighting here. Alas.

And last but not least . . . the printable itself:

YellowMums_Fall Leaf Cut Outs

FF-Fall Memory Game and other tid bits

You guys have had some really great ideas so far for freebie fridays, and I'm definitely going to use some of them. If you haven't yet entered my first giveaway, you can find it here. It ends next Friday, November 5th.

So, for today I've put together a little Turkey Day game to keep you, or the kids, busy while you wait for food :) But, for those of you who may not celebrate Thanksgiving, I've tried to stick kind of close to fall themes. You can download it here. (It's mainly dark brown, but it would print well in black and white if you don't want to use color).

 The three year old buddy and I had fun playing it last night. He did fine for awhile but the 18 matches may have been a little much for his attention span. He was pretty excited about me pulling out the pennies though. He grabbed a hand full and said, "money, money, money" mimicking Ham on Toy Story. I had a good laugh. So if you're playing with preschoolers, I might recommend playing the opposite way: start blank and have them find the matching images and cover them with tokens. That seemed to work better for the buddy.

In other news, I've finally cleaned up my crafting space enough to dare show it to you! But, for your enjoyment, here is the "before" aka. regular look, I'll post the "after" on Monday. (and by "after" I mean the clean, spruced up, want-everyone-to-think-it-always-looks-this-good version).

I promise I didn't make it look worse than normal. I honestly went in and just took a picture. It's terrible, I know.

FF- Squirrel & Oak Silhouettes

The little buddy LOVES squirrels. He likes to chase them whenever he sees them at the park. That's just about every time. It's fun to have them around. I didn't grow up in a place with large bushy tailed squirrels and so it's a bit of a novelty for me too. They're just kinda fun, and make me think of fall.

I thought I'd share some of the squirrel love with this 4 x 6 inch squirrel image and an oak leaf to boot! They're part of the forest animal silhouettes grouping. (The other 3 I'm selling through etsy- don't hate me). Perfect for framing in those glittery frames you've started, I'm thinking gold or green . . . of course I can't use the orange ones now that I said I would. Anyway, get the goods here.

For the turkey, rabbit, and deer check out my etsy shop! For those three type FreebieFriday in the notes to seller box and get a 30% discount. enjoy!






Oh, and in case you're wondering, I'm hosting the downloads through a different place, hence the different link destination.

FF- Halloween Games

I'd planned to do candy bar wrappers today. But they were boring. And, really, whose going to spend the time to cover all their candy bars with little Halloween sentiments? I wouldn't. So I bagged it and moved on. Hopefully these are more fun-they were more fun to make that's for sure. So here are four little Halloween activities for varying age levels.

Print them out, cut the page into fourths and you've got four little 4.25" x 5.5" activities. I tried them on the little buddy, he's almost 3 1/2, to see how much he could do:


the first one was pretty easy for him once he knew what to do



the second one he struggled figuring out the differences on the first two rows-not obvious enough-but he picked the "pumpkin" out of the skeletons very quickly. By the fourth row I'd lost his attention span, obviously.



the third activity was beyond him, as I suspected it would be. He had fun coloring it though!


I didn't even attempt the fourth one, the maze. I knew he wouldn't get how to do it, much less be able to figure it out. Maybe in a few years. In the mean time I'll have the hunny take a gander at it! Well, enjoy!



As a little side note update: google groups, which is currently hosting all my freebie friday downloads, has decided to stop hosting documents. This is the last one I will post through google groups. But I WILL still have a freebie friday.

All of this to simply say, the freebie friday's up through this one will still be available until the beginning of February. After that, all downloads previous to October 16 2010 will no longer be available for download.

FF- Candy Corn Halloween Invite

Whats better than candy corn at Halloween? A candy corn themed party! (with a little chocolate thrown in of course:) Use this candy corn themed invite to get the party started!

Invitations are printable on a letter size sheet (I'd recommend cardstock). Invitations measure 5x7 with 2 per page. Enjoy!

FF- Candy Corn Cupcake Toppers

And the Halloween Candy Corn Cupcake Toppers have arrived. Not planning on making cupcakes for Halloween? That's okay. There are so many fun things to do with them! Here are a few ideas:

tags
stickers
scrapbooking or card embellishments
mini garland
turn them into a matching or go-fish game
buttons as seen on Whatever Dee Dee Wants.

As always they print on a letter size sheet. Three designs, twelve cupcake toppers on a page each approximately 2 inches across. Get your free Halloween Candy Corn Cupcake Toppers here.

If you have any other great ideas for using your cupcake toppers please share!

*If you're looking for more fun Halloween Cupcake Toppers, check out my shop. Mention candy corn in the notes to seller box and get a 20% discount through the end of October.

enjoy!

FF-Nurturing Poster

My little sweetie is getting close to six weeks old. Life is getting easier. slowly. We don't have family too close and so I've relied on a few principles to get me through this crazy time.

First, I try to focus on the positive. Instead of griping and feeling angry at her for of all the sleep I'm missing out on when it's 2:00 am and I've put little sweetie down 4 times, and she's woken up yet again as soon as her head hits her bed, and we start over again with the josteling and shusshing, I try to think about how sweet she is and how this is my job right now, and it's okay. She needs me, and I am blessed to get to spend so much time with her. (don't worry there have still been bouts of resentment and the pity party-I'm not perfect.)




Second, I've really tried to focus on the bigger picture and why I'm doing what I'm doing. This has really helped! I have made the word Nurture my motto, and remind myself daily that my opportunity as a mother is to nurture my children (especially after the little buddy has dumped the entire salt shaker out and is rubbing it all over the counter). That's not just keeping an eye on them (which obviously I wasn't in the above mentioned case-but that's another story). It's "cultivating, caring for, and making grow." And there isn't a better job out there! I feel so lucky to be a mom and to get to watch my beautiful children grow, and to be the one to help them do so. I love my job, and even though it's not an easy one, it truly is the most rewarding. Sometimes I forget that though, and it's nice to have a visual reminder to step back and enjoy them, and remember why I'm doing what I'm doing.

So, I thought I would share this nurture poster I made that has helped me so much!. Hopefully it will be helpful to some of you too! As always it's printable on a letter size sheet. To make it centered, and frame-able in an 8x10 just cut an inch off the right side and a half inch off the bottom. This will make it 8x10.

Also, the quote at the bottom refers to this article if you want to read the whole thing.

FF-get well soon cards

They say September is the beginning of RSV season. It's probably the beginning of lots more colds and sicknesses too-but I guess I paid more attention to the RSV warning with a little one around. Anywhoo. I thought I'd pay a little homage to that with a get well soon card. (click on the underlined words to download the pdf). Send a little love.

Two cards to a letter size sheet. Print on cardstock, and cut in half. Each card once folded is 4.25 x 5.5 inches.

Enjoy!

FF-scalloped recipe cards

September makes me think of cooking for some reason. Harvest time I guess. I love the beginnings of fall once school starts with that little bit of crispness in the air. When I was growing up we'd always come home to bread baking, or some fall canning waiting for us. So, I feel like some fun scalloped recipe cards. They are printable on letter sized sheet (I'd recommend card stock). Two 4x6 cards on the page. Use the gray crop marks as guides for cutting them out!

FF-Monthly Menu Planner

*UPDATE 8/8/11: I've relinked the files so they should work again! enjoy!

This is my new favorite way to plan meals-by the month. I'm not a huge fan of cooking, but I grew up in a house with a home cooked meal every day, and that's what feels right. The worst part about it is coming up with an idea for dinner. I've been planning my meals for a week, but this seems to work even better. Then I don't have to stress out what we're going to eat at 4:30 in the afternoon when I forgot to plan my weeks menu. I can still tailor my shopping around the planned meals, but I only have to worry about deciding what to eat once a month. I like that. I thought you might like it too. I actually have two freebies today though. One is a monthly menu planner with a shopping list space on the right hand side, and the other is just a larger monthly menu planner-with no shopping list. Both print on a letter size sheet still. enjoy-and good luck meal planning.

FF-Striped Birthday Cupcake Toppers

Last in our series of birthday printables is my favorite, birthday cupcake toppers!

Three different designs, twelve on the page, all 2 inches. Of course printable on a letter size paper. They'd also be great as stickers printed on adhesive paper. Punch out with a 2 inch hole punch, tape them to lollipop sticks, or toothpicks to use as cupcake toppers.

You can now find these toppers as part of the Primary Colors Birthday Package available in my etsy shop by clicking here.

Enjoy!

FF-Striped Birthday Dots

These striped birthday dots spell out HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I know they aren't striped, but they coordinate with our striped birthday theme going on, hence the name.

Punch them out with a 2 inch hole punch and glue or tape them to a fabric or paper banner. This is how I did it for the little buddies birthday. I just cut triangles out of scrapbooking paper and hot glued a ribbon across the top. A scalloped banner would be really fun too. I would recommend using red and light blue paper to match the color scheme. Why didn't I just make it a printable banner triangles? Mostly to save on printer ink. I hate using tons of printer ink-it quickly becomes more economical to just buy scrapbooking paper on sale. Of course the birthday dots can be used however you want.

You can now find this as part of the Primary Colors Birthday Package available in my etsy shop by clicking here.



Enjoy!

FF-Striped Birthday Favor Box

Coordinating with last weeks freebie birthday invitation, a striped birthday favor box. Perfect for little candies or toys, but only measuring 2.25 inches square.

As always prints on a letter size sheet. I would recommend a stiff cardstock (just make sure it's not so stiff that it gets jammed in your printer), and scoring all edges before you fold them. Seriously, it makes a world of difference.


You can now find this as part of the Primary Colors Birthday Package in my etsy shop by clicking here.



Enjoy!

FF-Striped Birthday Invitations

In honor of a little sweeties approaching birth, and because who doesn't need some birthday printables-August will be dedicated to striped birthday printables. I've tried to make them gender neutral, and age neutral, as much as possible so anyone can use them. Hopefully I succeeded.

This friday we will start with a striped birthday invitation. Two 5x7 invitations on an a letter size sheet. (I think it would be fun to put a number sticker centered at the bottom of the invite on the stripes indicating the birthday person's age-or something similar to make it a little more personalized). Enjoy!

You can now find this printable as part of the Primary Colors Package in my etsy shop by clicking Here.

a little preview of what's to come . . .

I've also put an airplane birthday invitation up in my etsy shop to coordinate with the cupcake toppers there. More to come soon!

FF-Dinosaur Shapes

*UPDATE: The dinosaur shapes are now available for a small fee in my etsy shop: You can find the one page version here. I have also put a larger version with 2 dinosaurs to a page here.

In the spirit of school, I thought I'd do something for the little buddy this week as our freebie. He LOVES dinosaurs, and is really not interested in learning his shapes. Seriously, he should already know them. He knows his colors, numbers, and even all the letters and their sounds. But shapes? Other than circle he really couldn't care less. But, my sneakness thought if I combined it with dino's he might change his mind.

This one is a 2 page printable. The first page has the dinos on it and the second has the shapes. I did two sizes of shapes. Large ones (easier for little fingers to pick up) and small ones that are the exact size to fit inside the dinosaur. I won't lie, the little ones are tiny, probably only an inch or so which makes them harder to cut out. I laminated the shapes so they would last a little longer, and added magnets to the back of the big ones. You could also do velcro sticky dots. So far he seems interested . . . that's a good first sign, right?

FF-Math Circles

*UPDATE 9-8-11: Updated the link. Should work again! Enjoy!

I must be thinking about school. All the school supplies are up in the stores, and I have to reign myself in from buying hoards of things. I don't even have a child going to school. . . but new crayons, new markers, new pens and pads of paper and cool organizing things. I love them. I guess that must have inspired my freebie for today. Click here for one inch math circles-numbers and math symbols. Here are some fun ideas for using them:

*Don't worry about the math symbols and use them to teach a toddler to count

*don't cut them out-leave as is and use 4 different colored buttons to do math equations together (aka put a button on 3, a button on 2, a button on + and then ask your child to put a button on what they equal (5))

*Cut them out and use for math quizzing

*print on adhesive backed paper and use as stickers for crafting, or math

*Make them into magnets for the fridge

*Use them in a calendar-for the months (I didn't do 31 numbers for days)

I'd love to hear what else you might use them for-let me know!

A note: I used a 1.25" circle punch to cut out the circles, hence all the white space around the outside. A 1" circle punch would probably look a little better.